DC Defenders Post Presser Week 5 vs Renegades- Head Coach Shannon Harris / QB Jordan Ta'amu!!!

Uh we'll start by saying you know all the time for me man of faith. So regardless win or lose God is amazing for me you know uh to have this opportunity to be with these young men and to have an opportunity to work with them every day has been a major blessing. I've been blessed to have the opportunity to do so. But, you know, uh, starting out with our team, I mean, a heck of a football team in Arlington. Coach Sto's got a well organized team. Those guys fly around defensively. Offensively, they can be explosive at any point in time. And you show they showed that today. And so, uh, offensively for us, we were able to back our defense today. You know, we did a good job of, you know, creating opportunities for our guys, our skilled guys. Jordan did a good job of finding those guys and so the running backs ran the ball hard when needed. So we was pretty balanced from that standpoint. But you know our defense when we knew at the at the right time that they will get a stop and that's what they did. We talk to those guys every day about keep doing good. Don't get discouraged when bad things happen and don't give up. And that was the testament of us today. So uh again hats off to Arlington. That team is so good. But you know our guys you know wanted it and they fought hard for it. So, uh, we respect that group over there. We're going to have to see them again. So, we said, we knew that this game here today was going to be almost like a old school AFC North, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Raven football game. And that's what we we treated as as we prepared this week. So, uh, and that's it, you know. Ron Murray, K104, Coach Harris, we still hear the team celebrating right now. So, what was just your message to them at halftime? And also when you stepped in for coach Barlo, did you expect that midway of the season that y'all would, you know, definitely be in, you know, the driver's seat as far as the future for the team? Yeah. So, first question, um, at halftime, you know, we did a good job of going down and getting points. And that's what our our whole thing that, you know, going in uh at the end right there at the second quarter, knowing that we can get down and get points, we have a chance come out the next half. And uh, that was the message to the team. We got points. Defense came out and stopped and we was able to go get a touchdown right away offensively again. So that was the message and told those guys that we took their best shot in that first half and we're still in it. So we just can't, you know, we just got to eliminate the mistakes, you know, early on, especially defensively. We was missed the line a lot and guys running free, you know, now hats off to the receiver who caught the onehand catch. I mean that was that might make ESPN uh this week but you know uh second half we we we bowed our necks and we got better from that standpoint and then uh you know stepping in for coach Barlo the culture was set you know and uh I've had an opportunity to be with him you know at numerous other places and so the culture was already set. we maintain what we had been doing from year one back in 2023 and we continued those steps throughout the course of camp and then these guys was bought into what we was uh had our culture set at and so uh that's what we are today man these guys are a gritty bunch of group guys man they they they play they play hard they work hard together uh you know it's not no one side defense on one side offense on one side special team no these guys are truly uh a close-knit group and also Jordan you had a big day today 300 yards was passing. The defense did their thing and the offense. It seemed like, you know, the Renegades, they had full control, but just talk about the offense and really just bounced back from that win cuz especially the Renegades, they were undefeated at home, but y'all handed them their first loss. Yeah, it was amazing. Um, I seen it in our guys' eyes that we didn't give up. Um, everyone knew we were the better team. We just had to go out there and show it. Um, and, uh, we we preached it all week that it's going to start with us. You know, we we're going to help the defense out and it's going to take, you know, everyone, all 11 of us to execute. Uh, we knew this was a tough defense. um you know that was my defensive coordinator back in 2020. So I knew exactly the players they had uh exactly what they were going to bring and um like coach said it was going to be a fight and uh we just we knew it was going to come down to the last second and um and yeah it was it was a fun. Yeah. Jas Monet D210 Sports. I have a question for each of you. Uh coach, you told your team at halftime that Luis Perez would definitely give up a couple of interceptions in the second half. I was just curious, how were you so confident in that message and did you anticipate that that that would be so impactful in the second half? Yeah, great question. I think you know one thing we we're very good up front and we can get the uh we can put some uh some pass rush on the quarterback and we can get to the quarterback and hit him legally and we treat that as a stat. Any hit on the quarterback to us is a stat legally, you know, not illegal. So, we knew at some point that if we can continue to get close to him, you know, eventually it's going to come to our guys on the back end. And uh you know, eventually that happened. You know, a couple times we we the one earlier we in in the second half, you know, we stepped out of bound unfortunately. You know, he didn't get established first, you know, get his feet back in bounds, but but we knew if we get close to him and we put some hits on him that eventually some will come our way. And Jordan, when it comes to the score from the first half to the second half, not a big difference, seven-point difference, but there was a huge difference in momentum. I was just wondering what felt different to you and specifically what was going through your head in that last drive. Y'all taking the lead with less than a minute left. Yeah, I mean, um, we saw it last week and, you know, our main goal going in from week to week is to learn from our, you know, mistakes from the first week. You know, we started off slow and, um, had a chance to come back and win or tie the game and go get a chance to win. So this week we knew like we're down but we just needed to keep stacking, keep stacking and uh trusting our offense, trusting our guys and keep driving down the field and um that's exactly what we did and um coming down to the last you know last drive you know everyone was confident in the huddle. I mean you could see it in everyone's eyes like we're going to go down there and score and um it just takes that confidence to you know rise and um all these guys did it and all these guys shown it and um it was just amazing to do that. Did you know that statistically this was the biggest comeback in the in in the UFFL? Did not. That's amazing. I love making history. That's right. And we're gonna have two questions from Zoom. Um our first question, his name is Alan Alfred and from the Allen Alfred Sports Talk Show. Thank you so much. I guess I'll start with Jordan first. They did mention a couple times during the game that you had those big downfield throws, the man open. Can you kind of explain your side of the story on what you saw and what you thought happened? Yeah, it was just uh miscommunication with, you know, us and the, you know, receivers on the outside. Um, we tell him, hey, we got to turn this way and he turns the other way and, um, if we just communicated that better and if he said, uh, one way, hey, if the defender just I'm turning this way, then all right, now we're on the same page. But, um, breaking that huddle, I told I mean, we told him to, hey, just open up one way and he did another. But um that's something we just need to communicate and um you know kind of work on this week and just know that everyone's on the same page uh with with throws like that because those are big time plays that that can you know help us win. Coach Harris, congratulations win for both of you. I did want to ask about the towards halftime it seemed like there was a field goal that was kicked and you was thinking about pulling a you know like a a challenge but you didn't. Can you kind of explain to us what happened? Uh, yes. I think, yeah, we thought about it, but, you know, we we felt like it wasn't, you know, enough there to to show to throw a challenge flag out there on that one. So, you know, it's great to kind of keep those challenge. Anytime you throwing your challenge, you want to make sure it's a guarantee uh in your mind, but you know, the coaches did a good job of saying, you know, it's don't worry about challenging it right here. So, I you know, I always want to communicate with those guys because they got eyes on on the screens and things like that. So, I trust that they're going to make the right decision for me on that. And so, uh those guys did a good job of talking me up out of it. All right. And I have one more question. I'm sorry. Um Jason, you are good to go. And he is from the XFan Show. Hey, I got a How's it going, Jason with the XVan Show? Uh Coach and Jordan, I got questions for both of you. Coach, I talked last week with you about these next three weeks. You already got the one win in Arlington. You go to Michigan. Then then this third week, Arlington comes back to DC. What is the mindset? Because if you guys run this table, you got the control of the destiny. So, what is your guys' mindset going into next week? Yeah, it it's a weekby- week thing for us. And yes, we we talked about it with these guys. I even talked to these guys uh the last uh last week, you know, about how these games, the next few weeks going to be so physical, you know, is that we're going to have to make sure we get extra treatment after these type of games because we know the type of team that we're about to play. You know, Arlington a really good physical football team, Michigan a really good physical football team. Whoever next after that is a really good physical football team. So we knew uh going into this week and you know just try to prep these guys ahead to go ahead and get your mind right because these are the type of games that we gonna have to play okay if we want to win them and you know it starts with discipline and you know make sure that we're focusing everything that we do. Thanks coach Jordan my man you keep showing spring football and fans all around that watch the NFL that you are the man that's under pressure. explain how you guys came back in second half, you guys were down. What was your mindset going into that second half and what did you tell your guys in the huddle and in the locker room to believe in you? How did you get them to do it? Yeah, I mean, um, I I just kind of told him I said, "Hey, we just got to keep driving." And it it was going to come down, you know, to me making a play with my feet to kind of, you know, spark that offense up. And, uh, you know, I knew we were driving the ball. We just needed to start faster than we did. Um, but we were confident. I, like I said, all those guys were confident inside the locker room that they can beat their guys one-on-one and, you know, the communication skills, you know, that, you know, helped us out a lot, too. It's just, hey, like I think this guy's doing this, this guy's doing that or, you know, our O line's just all communicating and, you know, protecting me. So, um, going off going out into that second half, I knew it was going to be a battle and I knew it was going to take all of us and, uh, and it did and it and it showed. Thanks, Jordan. Thank you, coach. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. that you